United News of Bangladesh

 A Chinese maritime court has successfully mediated a dispute that had arisen from a collision between two foreign vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) said on Monday. The case, involving claims reaching 180 million yuan (about 26.5 million U.S. dollars), was handled by the Guangzhou Maritime Court (GMC) in south China's Guangdong Province under the guidance of the SPC. It involved the Antigua-and-Barbuda-flagged "Adalynn" and the Liberia-flagged "Front Eagle," both owned and operated by foreign enterprises, according to an SPC statement. The two ships collided in June 2025, in waters near the Strait of Hormuz. While "Front Eagle" was undergoing repairs in Guangdong's Shenzhen, the owner of "Adalynn" applied to the GMC for an order to arrest the vessel. Both foreign parties agreed to have the GMC hear the case and selected Chinese law as the governing law for resolving the substantive issues in dispute. The GMC organized four pretrial meetings between October 2025 and July 2026 and held a public hearing on July 14, 2026, the statement said, adding that it also introduced maritime technical investigators to help ascertain facts regarding the collision, as no official authority had conducted an investigation into the accident and no official conclusions were available. Through the fact-finding process, the court reconstructed the course of the collision, which helped clearly determine the parties' respective liabilities, according to Wu Guining, the presiding judge of the case. Through the court's mediation, the relevant parties reached a settlement, and the court organized the liability fund distribution in late July. Bilov Viacheslav, representative of the shipowner of the "Adalynn," said the company decided to submit the dispute to a Chinese court because of their trust in the impartiality and fairness of the country's legal and judicial systems, a choice that was ultimately proven right. He also said that he was impressed by the efficiency of the Chinese court and professionalism of Chinese maritime experts.     

The death toll in the collapse of a hotel in eastern China was raised to 17 Wednesday as authorities ended the search and rescue mission. The city of Suzhou said on its social media feed that 23 people had been pulled from from the rubble of the Siji Kaiyuan Hotel, which collapsed on Monday afternoon. One of those freed was uninjured and five others were sent to a hospital for treatment. Read: Search in Florida collapse to take weeks; deaths reach 90 Rescuers used cranes, ladders, metal cutters and search dogs to look for survivors. Most of those killed were hotel guests. More than 600 people including earthquake rescue teams and 120 vehicles were mobilized for the operation. Suzhou city is in Jiangsu province near Shanghai. Read:Recovery workers vow not to let up in Florida condo collapse Jiangsu’s highest official, Communist Party Secretary, Lou Qinjian, visited with rescuers and victims on Tuesday, the city said. Investigators would look into the cause of the collapse and police have subpoenaed the hotel’s legal representatives, managers and those who worked on the design and construction of the building, the posting said. Some had been placed under “criminal control measures,” it said, indicating they were under some form of detention or supervision. No numbers or names were given for those under such measures. Read: Crews give up hope of finding survivors at collapse site The three-floor, 54-room Siji Kaiyuan Hotel opened in 2018, according to Ctrip, a Chinese online booking app. Suzhou is a popular tourist destination known for its historic canals and traditional Chinese gardens, as well as a major business center.